Art of making copper-coated iron or steel sheets.



No; 827,378. v k PATENTED JULY 31, 1906.

W. P. LEWIS. I

ART OF MAKING co'PPEE COATED IRON OR STEEL SHEETS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23, 1905.

I /0 j I 1 ?I m 4 |'L.////////// ///////////////fl/////////////////////////////////////////////)////fl WITNESSES 5 INVENTOR ATTORNEY {WW3 I W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

- WILLIAM F. LEWIS,

or CANTON, OHIO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 31, 1906.

Application filed November 23, 1905-. Serial No- 288,654.

To all whmr't it may concern:

Be it known that l, WILLIAM P. LEwIs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Canton, in the county of Stark and State of. Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Art of Making Copper- Coated Iron or Steel Sheets,of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a method of welding or uniting copper sheets on the sides of a base-bar of iron or steel to the end that the same may be reducedby rolling into coppercoated sheets, with a flux for facilitating the welding in somecases; and the objects of the improvement are to weld or unite the copper on one or both sides of the bar by the same operation to bring the sheets by an initial heating and" rolling into such intimate contact with, the bar that they can be completely' welded or united together and reduced in thickness by a final heating and rolling, so that copper-coated iron or steel sheets of any reasonable gage canthus be made with such an intimate joinder of the different metals aswill permit the finished sheets to be flexed or stamped or otherwise worked in the various arts withoutseparating the copper from the iron'or steel..

These objects are attained by the processherein described in connection with theflux mentioned for welding or uniting in some cases and without the flux in other cases, some of the features of'the process being illustfiated in the accompanying drawings, in whic Figure- 1 is a cross-section of a base-bar having a beveled edge, showing the preferrerij! manner offolding and flattening the copper sheet thereon for the initial heating Fig. 2, a similar section illustrating the initial rolling; Fig. 3, a similar section showing the base-bar and copper in intimatecontact or partially united for the final heating; Fig. 4,. a similar section showing the join er completed and the coated bar partially reduced by the final rolling; and Fig.5, a fragmentary cross-section of a base-bar having a square ed e, showing a modified manner of folding an flattening the copper sheet thereon before the initial heating. I e 2 Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

The base-bar for 1 may be either of. iron or steel orother similar and suitable metal and for brevity will be hereinafter referred to as the base-bar, and the bar may be formed 'cient to somewhat soften the copper.

with square edges 2, as shown in Fig. 5, or with one edge 3' beveled, as shown in Fig. 1. A convenient size for thebar is ordinarily eight inches wide by one-half inch thick and of such lengthsay twenty inchesas is desired for the width of the finished coated sheet. The copper sheet 4 is of the same length as the bar, but is preferably a little more than twice its width, so that the sheet can be folded or doubled over one edge of the bar and will completely cover both sides thereof, as shown in Figsfl and 2. Atwentysix-gage sheet is a desirable thickness of the copper for use in connection with a half-inch base-bar; but it will be understood that the dimensions and thickness of the bar and sheet can be varied to suit the desired dimensions and thickness of the finished sheet, as well as the desired relative thickness of the copper coating thereon. v

The base-bar and the copper sheet are first cleaned, so as to be free from all oXids on the faces to, be welded, and this is .preferably done in the ordinary manner by pickling that is, by bathing them in a hot dilute solution of sulfuric acid. When a comparatively thick sheet of' copper is used which is not to be greatly reduced by rolling, the faces of the base-bar and the copper sheet to be welded are then covered, spread, or washed ,with a suitable flux, and for this purpose I prefer to dip the bar and the sheet into a hot solution o'f borax. .A desirable manner of making and using this flux is to dissolve one part of borax in-twelve parts of hot water and then to keep the solution hot and well agitated for use. [The copper sheet is then folded to cover the sides of the bar, as described, and is flatly held thereon, as by the two opposing faces 5 of the blocks 6 and 6 in which relation they are heated in a suitable furnace to a dark'red or other degree sufiiflattening ofthe sheet on the sides of the bar is to exclude air, from the contiguous sur-' faces and prevent any oxidation of them, and when blocks asdescribed are used for this purpose they can be retained in the furnace,

and thus kept ata comparatively high temperature; but this particular manner of flattening the sheets and excludingthe air during the initial heating is not essential to the success of the other features of the process. The base-bar and the covering-sheet thus The softened by heating are then forcefully compressed together between hot rolls. This compression com letely expels the greater part of the flux when the same is used, and, furthermore, it impresses particles of the partly-softened copper into the metal of the ase-bar, as a result of which the copper sheet adheres firmly to the sides of the basebar as against any ordinary handling or flux by squeezing it out from one sideof the bar to the other, and, furthermore, the same action serves better to impress the softened surfaces of the metals together by actin successively or in detail, as it were, on the 'ffertively thick base-bar of stee ent arts thereof. V, V T e rolls used for reducing the composite bar may be the ordinary hot rolls commonly used in rolling-mills, which obtain and retain their heat from the hot bars which are passed between them, as distinguished from the socalled cold rolls, which are likewise commonly used in rolling-mills, but which do not become heated because cold sheets only are passed between them. If cold rolls' were used in ca g out this process, the would chill the thin sheets of copper on t e relaandthus revent a proper uniting of the several laminations.

The. folded-over edge of the sheet-covered bar is inserted first between the 1'.olls,"as'

7 shown in Fi 2, with the result that the copper sheet is eld securely in the proper place on the sides of the bar, and a convenient mannerof handling the sheet-covered bar is by means of the ordinary tongs 8, applied on the sides-of the sheets over their free edges 9, as shown in the same figure.

The need for the pre 'minary heating and 'rollin arises from the fact that if the bar and t e sheet are at first brought to the higher heat requiredfor welding or completely uniting them the cop er is so soft that the action of the rolls ten s to rupture it and, it may be, to squeeze it off the steel instead of welding or uniting it thereto, while by limitin the de ee of the initial heating the first ro g is -gine when the copper jsyet comparatively strong and tough, and by artially embedding its particles in the stee as described, it is afterward sustainedand held by the relatively stron er and tougher steel, so that when it is finally brought to the higher heat the action of the rolls does not destroy the continuity of the copper on the steel, but reduces the metals toget er in substantially solution of borax is describe the same relative degree of thickness until the sheet is finished. Furthermore, if the initial joinder is made by a mere com ression, as distinguished from the action of r0 ls, there is not initiated that interlocking fibrous form of juncture between the dissimilar metals which not only ultimately marks the finished sheet, but enables thesteel to successfully sustain and retain the co er when it is finally heated and rolled. When the copper sheet is in this manner securely attached and,it maybe,partly welded or united on the sides of the base-bar, the composite bar 10 thus formed is then finally heated to a suitable weldin or uniting degree in an ordinary furnace an without any 3 ecial appliances or coverin after which tlie bar is finally com resse between hot rolls, as before, and

the oinder of the different metals is thereby completed. In the final compression the rolls can be brought closer together from timeto time in the usual manner, and the bar is thusgradually reduced to the thickness of the desired finished sheet, and by this method of rolling the surfacesof the copper sheet are in a manner worked into the contiguous surfaces of the base-bar, as well as being welded or united thereon, to the effect that a much more intimate cleaving of the two metals is accom lished than b other processes. This resu t is attained ecause the copper has been so firmly joined to the base-barby the initial heating and compression that when the composite bar is brought to the welding or unitin heat it can be freely handled and com lete y welded or united and reduced by tli rolls without any tendenc o the two metals to separate or split apart y the action of the rolls, and the more successful joinder of the metals by'this process is no doubt largely due to the peculiar rearrangement of the par- -ticles of the metals which are drawn out by the action. of the rolls, so as to form a fibrous structure, the intermingling and interlocking of which fibers make a joinder of the dissimilar metals that'might be distinguished from a technical welding thereof brought about b hammering or mere com ression.

The olded-over edge of the ase-bar is preferably beveled, as at 3 in Fig. 1, because in the final rolling the part 11 of the copper sheet which covers the square edge 2, as in Fig. 5, is cut at the corners and finally se arated from the edge of the bar and is t us wasted'as' scrap, while that art 11 of the sheet which covers the bevele edge is gradually rolled down as the bar is reduced and becomes art of the coatin on the side of the finished sheet,.-'as particularlyshown in Fig.

'4, and there is consequently no wasting of copper unless it be at the extremely thin acute angle 12 of the beveled edge.

While the use of a flux composed of a hot as preferred e same 0 eration of the .flux whatever is required in the process herein described. It is also evident that the folding of the copper sheet over the edge of the. base-bar is not an essential feature of the process, although it is a very desirable means for holding the sheet and bar in proper relative position, and theta copper sheet canbe welded on oneside only ofaa base-bar by the same means herein described forwelding a sheet on both sides thereof, and, furthermore, it is apparent that sheets of other metal than of copper canbe welded on the sides of a suitable base-bar and the same reduced to thin sheets by the same method herein described for making copper-coated sheets.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

, 1. The process of making a copper-coated iron or steel sheet consisting in folding a clean copper sheet over one edge of a clean iron or steel bar and flattenin it on the sides thereof'with an intervening ux, then heating the sheet and the bar to soften the copper and passing them folded edge'first between hot compressing-rolls, and then brin ing them to a umting heat andjoining and re neing them between hot compressing-rolls.

2. The process of making a copper-coated iron or steel sheet consisting in fplding aclean copper sheet over one edge of a clean iron or steel bar and flattening it on the sides thereof, then heating the sheet and the bar to soften the copper and passing them folded edge first between hot compressing-rolls, and then bringing them to a uniting heat and joining and reducing them between hot compressing-rolls. I

3. In making a copper-coated iron or steel sheet, the process of folding a copper'sheet I over'one edge of an iron or steel bar and flat tening it on the sides thereof, then heating the sheet and the bar to soften the copper and passing them folded edge first between hot compressing-rolls, and then bringing them to anniting heat and again compressing them between hot rolls.

4. In making a copper-coated iron or steel sheet, the process of flattening a'copper sheet on the side of an iron or steel bar, then heatdngthe sheet and the bar to soften the copper and compressing them between hot rolls, and Y then bringing them to a uniting heat and againcompressing them between hot rolls.

.5. In making'a laminated sheet, the proc ess' of forming a bar with one edge beveled and folding a sheet over 'the beveled edge to cover the sides of the bar, and then heating the sheet and the bar and passing them folded edge first between hot compressing-rolls.

n testimony whereof I have slgned 'my name to this specification in the presence of two "subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM LEWIS.

Witnesses: r

HARRY FREASE, OBED O. BILLMAN. 

